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The most jarring transition a student makes during his or her entire educational career begins on the first day of seventh grade, says Mary Rhodes, principal of Taylorsville's Bennion Junior High School.
After the comfortable one-teacher, one-classroom format of elementary school, junior high is a plunge into a strange, sometimes frightening unknown. That's why -- despite funding cuts -- Bennion Junior High held a mandatory seventh-grade orientation last week.
A tight budget allowed for only a few teachers to be on hand, but the Bobcat Buddies, Bennion's peer leaders, picked up the slack. They escorted the new seventh-graders around the school, pointing out the library, gym and cafeteria. They explained the lunch routine and taught the newcomers how to open their lockers.
The locker situation is a big issue for many seventh-graders, including Karli Muhlestein, who had a nightmare about being unable to unlatch hers.
"I'm scared I'm going to forget my combination," said Karli, who spent time practicing twisting the knob.
Remember, Karli, it's right, left, right.
Her classmates expressed their own concerns as they navigated through the hallways.
"I'm just worried about getting to my classes on time," Kyle Cleveland said.
Added fellow seventh-grader Kelton Lee, "I'm just nervous because it's a new school and new environment."
By exploring the school when it is completely void of bigger eighth-graders
"It lets them feel more secure," said teacher Quinn Rollins. "They come on Monday, and they're more ready to go to class. They're more ready to make the transition to eight different classes in a single day. ... I know that junior high is difficult enough socially and physically and emotionally, we don't have to add school to their pile of stressors."
Bobcat Buddy Mikaela Hayward, a ninth-grader, remembers being reassured by student leaders when she first started junior high. Each Bobcat Buddy -- who encourages younger kids by occasionally dropping notes in their lockers, or assists them with social conflicts -- has several seventh-graders assigned to them all year long.
"We want to help [seventh-graders] feel how we did," said Mikaela, now a seasoned freshman, "[and help them] how [the Bobcat Buddies] helped us. We want to pass that on."
The main function of orientation -- seventh-grade counselor Christi Reed says -- is to let new students "know that junior high is not a scary place."
"This is going to be a great place," Reed explains to the students. "It's not going to be easy all the time. But [there] are people that you can go to if you need to. [There are] familiar faces to turn to."
